Sand bed care

[Sandyego reeyfur]

Hi i have about a one month old tank with about 2 to 3 inches of carib sea fine sand. I was told that anything over 4 inches deep you should not siphon but i see bubbles in the sand which i presume are nitrogen gas. Does this mean i should not siphon the sand. Its a 30 gallon tank and i have 1 nessarius some crabs and snails two clowns a hammer a frogspawn and some zoas. Also should i get a sand sifting starfish. I have heard conflicting ideas about putting a sand sifter in a tank this size.

 

[Peace River]

Let see if we can get some help with your question....

#reefsquad

 

[sfin52]

I use a turkey baster and Puff the sand or you can take a bamboo skewer or something similar and stir the sand bed

 

[sfin52]

siphoning the sand will eventually remove most of your sand

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

So should i siphon it or get a sand sifting star or both or neither?

 

[Peace River]

So should i siphon it or get a sand sifting star or both or neither?

A sand bed of 3" should be stirred whether that is with sand sifting inhabitants; stirring with a skewer, PVC pipe, or something comparable; or siphoning. Personally I don't prefer to siphon unless you are intentionally removing the sand and if you do add sand sifters then be careful with any manual stirring. Good luck!

 

[Sandyego reeyfur]

A sand bed of 3" should be stirred whether that is with sand sifting inhabitants; stirring with a skewer, PVC pipe, or something comparable; or siphoning. Personally I don't prefer to siphon unless you are intentionally removing the sand and if you do add sand sifters then be careful with any manual stirring. Good luck!

Thanks sm

 

[sfin52]

Sand stars eat all the micro fauna I would stay away from them. There are a good amount of snails that will worth the sand bed. Nassarius Snail cerith snails are good choices

 

[flchamp89]

Dwarf ceriths from reef cleaners are very good and very cheap.

 

[Roy Arena]

Nassarius snails burrow in the sand and do a good job keeping the top layer of sand from clumping up. They also consume any food your fish miss that may make it to the sand. Highly recommended for keeping your sand bed in check.

 

[brandon429]

A work thread is a great place to test claims
What sandbeds do for the masses over time is opposite of how we've been told they work, since early sandbed theory wasn't based on aquarium studies long term but actual marine sediment studies.

Every entrant here who's tank was saved from the sandbed killing it over time started using the standard dsb method, discern for yourself via patterns how this is working out for the masses:

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

We aren't against using starfish or sand sifters, can do. We advocate keeping your bed clean, assisting them, if needed. If you set your bed running and never clean it, cyano will take over and possibly dinos too, we show.

By reading the tank histories there, you see sandbeds at early, middle, and mature phases. How many sandbeds ended up self regulating, requiring no owner guiding?

 

[edgewater]

Following thread!

 

[FragileReefer]

I've started adding a good turkeybasting right before my waterchange.

I go at the sand first, getting underneath and getting everything in the watercolumn. Then clean off the rocks and corals of the sand and debris. Then immediately start that syphon. I don't vaccum the sand because it removes a bit too much. But you can still turkeybast if things begin to settle.

I didn't touch my sandbed for months, and it led to hair algae. I was afraid to release my bubbles from under the sandbed too. In the end I stirred up, and nothing bad happened. To be honest, my fish got some snacks and in an hour my corals looked great.

I think the days of 10" sandbeds are gone, and we don't really need to fear the bottom of our sandbeds. Ive seen a video that @WWC even uses a coarse net to clear out debris from their sandbed. And unless you have an army of sandwellers get stirring!

 

[LaraLouM]

We stir up and clean our sand bed (3”) every 1-2 months and this is on top of having a pistol shrimp and goby in our 13.5 Fluval.

We are setting up a Biocube 32 currently and our LFS ordering our fish recommended a sand sifting starfish. I am a little unsure about this as I have heard equal amounts of good and bad in regards to them.

 

[Tastee]

I have a 65g RSR 250 that is coming on 2 years old. I put a sand sifting starfish in the first month but it atrophied and died within the month (Oct 17) - tank was too young and there were not enough nutrients. After finishing stocking my tank with fish, a small coral load, and letting it stabilise I added another sifter in June 18. He (Jeff - Jefferson Starfish) has settled in very well and is still extremely healthy and active. I keep a close eye on his legs to ensure he is feeding but so far so good. I feed frozen food and pellets on alternate days and Jeff always comes out to feed on uneaten pellets. I feed a mix of small (2 mm) and baby (~.3 mm) pellets and it is the baby ones he seems to eat.

I would recommend stocking your tank and letting it stabilise before introducing a SSS. I would be concerned about the 32g given my experience in a 65g. If you can get it to clean up pellets like mine does you may be ok. Initially it will be fine but it will soon denude your sandbed of microfauna so needs an alternate food source.